explaining_errors_in_star_trekfandomcom-20200215-history
The Sword of Kahless
' |image= |series= |production=40510-481 |producer(s)= |story= Richard Danus |script= Hans Beimler |director= LeVar Burton |imdbref=tt0708644 |guests=John Colicos as Kor, Rick Pasqualone as Toral, Tom Morga as Soto |previous_production=Starship Down |next_production=Our Man Bashir |episode=DS9 S04E08 |airdate= 20 November 1995 |previous_release=(DS9) Little Green Men (Overall) Maneuvers |next_release=(DS9) Our Man Bashir (Overall) Resistance |story_date(s)=Unknown (2372) |previous_story=(DS9) Little Green Men (Overall) Cold Fire |next_story=Maneuvers }} In the Worf v House of Duras =Summary= Kor (see Blood Oath) comes to the station to enlist Dax's help. While serving on Vulcan as the Klingon ambassador, he came across a piece of cloth that he believes once held the fabled sword of Kahless. Following its discovery during a mining operation on an uncharted planet, the Vulcans brought the cloth back from tie Gamma Quadrant. During analysis, Dax finds both Klingon and Hur'Q DNA along with metallic traces of a fourteen-hundred- year-old bat'leth. Since the Hur'Q stole the sword from Kronos a thousand years ago, Kor is certain that he knows its location and wants Dax to assist him in his quest. He invites Worf to come along as well. Arriving at the planet, the trio quickly recover the sword of Kahless. Unfortunately, Kor's drunken revelry at taverns across the quadrant brings unwanted guests to the celebration. Toral, the illegitimate son of Duras (see "Redemption TNG), appears with a band of Klingons to steal the sword for himself. Eventually Kor, Worf, and Dax escape, but not before the trio realizes the effect that the ancient bat'leth has on Klingons. Every. one who sees it becomes enthralled with visions of grandeur. Knowing its return would plunge the Klingon Empire into bloody civil war, Worf and Kor beam the sword into space, leaving it to be rediscovered when destiny appoints. =Errors and Explanations= Plot Oversights # After his introduction to Kor by Dax, Worf mentions a list of the great warrior's accomplishments. The first of them, 'Your confrontation with Kirk on Organia," seems a bit overplayed for the events seen in Errand of Mercy (TOS). In that episode Kirk and Spock were caught on the surface of Organia just as Kor arrived with troops to subdue the planet. Kirk and Spock went underground, dressing like Organians. But even after Kirk and Spock blew up a munitions dump, Kor couldn't locate the culprits. He only arrested them after the Organians ratted on our heroes. Then Kirk and Spock attacked Kor's headquarters and actually managed to make it all the way to Kor's Office. Of course, the Organians-—who were really powerful beings who simply had taken on corporeal form—got fed up with the shenanigans on both sides and stepped in. They forced a truce not only between Kirk and Kor but also between the Federation and the Klingon Empire. So why do the Klingons consider Kor's performance on this planet worthy of veneration? What did Kor do that was so spectacular? (Maybe they've only heard Kor's version on Kronos. 'There we were, face to face, circling each other, blood lust in our veins despite the interference of the "smiles and smiles" lily-livered Organians. Without warning, Kirk lunged at me like a Marclosian wind devil! I grabbed him, hurling him against the wall—searing heat racing along my arms at even this momentary contact. Teeth bared, eyes flashing with the fear of an outmatched opponent, he came at me again. We fell to the floor—the very flesh on our hands boiling, our breath blistering each other's face with...") Worf could be refering to the verbal sparring between the pair. # Well, if Worf wasn't in deep, deep doo-doo with the Klingon High Command before this episode, he certainly is now. How could he ever explain to Gowron that he helped recover the fabled sword of Kahless and then set it adrift in space? (Somehow, I don't think "It made us act bad and we felt bad" is going to cut it!) Perhaps Worf and Kor realised that allowing Gowron to have the sword would have proved disastrous for the Empire by increasing Gowron’s paranoia. # And speaking of setting the sword adrift in the Gamma Quadrant, I wonder what would happen if the Changelings happened to find it and sent one of their own to Kronos to pose as Kahless? (When Johnson Lai of Ajax, Ontario, proposed this scenario to me, I thought, "Oops!") Maybe it would have a similarly divisive effect on the Founders! Changed Premises # When our heroes first find the legendary sword of Kahless, Kor holds it for a moment before giving it to Worf. Clutching the sword, Worf recites its legacy. With this sword, he claims that Kahless killed Molor, conquered the Fek'lhri, and forged the first empire. Remember that "killed Molor" thing as we go back to the (NextGen) episode Rightful Heir. In that episode Kahless supposedly comes back from the dead at the monastery on Boreth. He marches into a room that contains a thronelike chair and grabs a bat'leth that rests on the seat. One of the clerics reacts with indignation at the sight, at which point Kahless asks, 'Who here knows the story of how this sword was forged?" (Emphasis mine.) Kahless tells the story. Then he refers to the blade that he holds as the bat'leth that killed Molor! So...it appears that there are two swords of Kahless. Not necessarily – The clone of Kahless only refered to the Bat’leth from the seat as the one used to kill Molor because that is what the clerics had led him to believe! Equipment Oddities # After deciding to abandon the sword to the galaxy, the hearty trio affixes the sword to a cylindrical tower on the transporter platform. This is very convenient for the director because it just happens to put the bat'leth into perfect position to film a dramatic beam-out, with Worf and Kor in the background. However, it does beg the question: Was this just done for ceremony? Why not just lean the sword against the interior of the transporter chamber? That could have led to interference from the circutry in the walls of the chamber. Continuity And Production Problems # After Kor goes off to find another rat on which our heroes can feast Dax changes Worf's bandage She inserts a piece of cloth into the tear on his uniform. As she withdraws her hand and places it on Worf's shou'der you can see blood on the middle of her fingers. Then the shot changes and Dax moves this same hand around to Worf's back. Now the blood has disappeared. (l know. Pick pick pick, pick, pick.) Perhaps she managed to wipe the blood off? Nit Central # Kahless' sword is 1,400 years old, but Kor says that the guy he killed was the first man to be killed with the sword in a 1,000 years. So after Kahless died people still used his sword to kill other people, rather than stick it in a place of honor? Chris Diehl on Friday, May 23, 2003 - 9:56 am: It is very possible that the Sword of Kahless was used after his departure until the Her'Q showed up and stole it. I am sure Kahless' successors took the same attitude toward it as Kor did, "it's a Sword!" It was meant to be used, not stuck in a glass case and worshipped. When someone challenged the Emperor of the Klingon Empire in those days, he picked up the Sword of Kahless, apparently the symbol of the Emperor, and handled his business. As for why it looks different than other bat'leths, there are a few possible reasons. First, maybe Kahless invented the bat'leth, and this was the first one he made. Later generations improved the materials and design into its present form. Second, perhaps bat'leths existed already in his time and he made his own bat'leth unique, so everyone would recognize it. Third, maybe when Kahless finished unitng the Klingon people and became Emperor, he had someone make a special weapon for him, which became the weapon of the Emperor. Duke of Earl Grey on Friday, May 23, 2003 - 12:55 pm: I think the first reason Chris gave is the correct one. In a TNG episode (I forget which one), I believe that Worf tells Alexander some legend of Kahless, and how he made the first bat'leth. Of course, Worf also says that Kahless made it by dipping his own hair in molten rock, so perhaps we shouldn't take much stock in the rest of the tale. :)''Seniram''For all we know, Kahless may have lived – and used the sword - for over 400 years after it was made. # So no one thought to bring down a map of the caverns before they left the runabout? There may not have been a map available. # LUIGI NOVI on Wednesday, February 02, 2005 - 9:29 am: After the Kahless clone appeared in the monastery on Borath in Rightful Heir (TNG), he picked up the bat’leth placed on the altar. The fact that that sword was on the altar, as well as Koroth’s feigned offense before supposedly “learning” that he was, in fact, Kahless, as well as the manner in which Kahless referred to it when telling the story of how it was forged, all imply that the one on the altar was the original bat’leth. For the purposes of this episode, the creators try to backpedal, and establish that the one in this episode is the original. So where did that one on Borath come from?Brian FitzGerald on Thursday, August 31, 2006 - 8:25 am: Look at it like The Shroud of Turin. Plenty of reasons to think that it's fake but the church still says it's the real shroud of christ. After 15 centuries some other sword probably was substituted for the real one when the real one went missing. The Klingon leaders who wielded this new sword of course claimed that it was the original. The Khaless clone only knew what the religious leaders programmed into his head and religious leaders who have "the original" probably won't change their story even after historians say that the real sword was lost. # Wow, Toral sure looks and sounds a lot older than I would have imagined he’d be, given it’s been only four years since Redemption Part 2 (TNG)! Has he been taking steroids? I knew Klingon gestation, infancy and childhood were short time periods. Now we can add young adulthood to the list, too.Maybe they need to age quickly, especially during their early years, to ensure their survival. # When Worf tells Dax that he begged his adoptive parents to take him to the Klingon homeworld, he says that when there, he stayed with his cousin’s family. Huh? Didn’t Sins of the Father (TNG) establish that Worf had no other family aside from Kurn? If he had cousins, why didn’t they take him in and raise him after he was orphaned? They were probably distant cousins, who weren't found until after the adoption had been formalised. # At the end of the episode, the trio beam the bat’leth into space. ARE THEY NUTS?!! If someone authenticated the Shroud of Turin, or found the Holy Grail, would you beam it into space to keep them from being stolen? They say the sword would divide the empire, as it did them. Would that really happen, if it were in Emperor Kahless’ possession? Would the sword really be considered more awesome than the return of Kahless himself three years ago? How can they treat such an important artifact this way? Even if they didn’t want to present it to Kahless, couldn’t they just hide it? That would risk someone like Toral getting their hands on it. # dotter31 on Saturday, May 13, 2006 - 5:07 am: How does Jadzia know that Hur'Q DNA is such? It must have been significantly different from Klingon DNA. Category:EpisodesCategory:Deep Space Nine